Concept[]
The first mortal battles were those of nature, red in tooth and claw–beasts struggling among each other, fighting with sharp claws, piercing teeth, or lashing tails. But then came man and his fellow races, primitive at first, using simple clubs and spears, conquering the beasts of the wild. Soon the mortal races abandoned their simple stone bludgeons for blades, taking up cold iron and haughty steel to war. And soon–or perhaps even already–the mortal races, ever inventing new tools and weapons, will discover a force much greater than any club or sword: the gun. The firearm, sleek, compact, and ruthlessly powerful. A knight, armored in full plate and trained for years in the noble art of the greatsword could be downed from a hundred feet by a peasant with a musket, and a master duelist could be shot down before he had a chance to draw his sword by a pistol-wielding gunslinger. And just as the sword had its true masters, the martial adepts of the Sublime Way, so too might the gun find its exalted wielders, martial adepts of the discipline of Black Rain. An art of finesse and ruthless power, the Black Rain discipline promises its wielders the true power of the gun.
Black Rain, Firearms, and a Campaign[]
Guns don’t belong in every campaign. Many campaign settings either do not have guns as a feature, or specifically do not include guns. In such a case, the Black Rain discipline simply does not have a place in such campaigns. A DM might be willing to allow a player to use firearms and Black Rain, particularly if the characters background provides a compelling justification for it–they are gnomish tinkerer who invented firearms as a new weapon, or they are an adventuring archaeologist who unearthed a cache of ancient weapons–but this should be considered an exception, rather than a rule. In campaigns where firearms are more common, then the discipline should likewise be more spread, perhaps even made a major feature of the setting.